Floor mats are a typical accessory for vehicles. Floor mats serve to protect the more permanently installed carpet or other flooring material of the vehicle. The floor mats are typically arranged so that the feet of the occupants of the vehicle rest on the floor mat rather than the installed flooring material. Dirt and moisture that may have accumulated on the shoes of the occupants is received by the floor mat rather than the installed flooring material, thus facilitating the preservation of the installed flooring. The floor mats may be removed from the vehicle as desired to vacuum or wash in an effort to remove any dirt that accumulates thereon.
The purpose of the floor mat is to protect the installed flooring from dirt and moisture, but often times this purpose is not achieved. If the floor mat is displaced from its intended position, it will no longer be situated in a position for the feet of an occupant to rest thereon. The feet of the occupants will instead rest on the installed flooring material causing any dirt or moisture on the shoes of the occupants to be transferred to the installed flooring. Accordingly, it is desirable to maintain the floor mat at its intended position. However, the method used to maintain the desired position of the floor mat must allow for the floor mat to be easily removed for cleaning or the purpose of the floor mat will be defeated.
Various fasteners have been employed to facilitate maintaining a floor mat at its intended position. For example U.S. Pat. No. 6,735,819 to Iverson et. al. discloses a hand mountable device for affixing a carpet mat to the carpeting of an automobile. Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,878,792 to Frano discloses a removable floor mat fastener. These and other fasteners typically have not achieved a maximized balancing of the two competing objectives for such fasteners, namely to secure the mat at its intended location and allow for the easy removal of the mat for cleaning. The current fasteners typically do not adequately secure the floor mat to the underlying flooring or, alternatively, secure the floor mat semi-permanently making it necessary to use tools or other cumbersome procedures to disengage the fastener from the floor mat and remove the floor mat.
Vehicle manufactures often include such fasteners for the floor mats of a new vehicle. The vehicle manufacturer has a need for the fasteners to facilitate an efficient installation thereof to minimize the overall assembly cost of the automobile. Additionally, the vehicle manufacturer typically requires the cost of the fastener be minimized while maintaining the functions of securing the floor mat at the desired location and allowing easy removal and reattachment of the floor mat.
It would be desirable to provide a floor mat clip that secures a floor mat to an underlying flooring material at an intended location; facilitates the removal and reattachment of the floor mat to the underlying flooring material; facilitates the installation thereof into the floor mat and the underlying flooring material; and may be economically manufactured.